The 2009 Hopman Cup in Perth, Australia will be missing one of its biggest draw cards.
Serena Williams, the 2008 US Open champion, has withdrawn from the competition because of a hamstring injury.
According to Hopman Cup organizers, Serena injured her hamstring during the season-ending Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha, Qatar. She withdrew from the Championships during the round-robin phase of the event and failed to reach the semifinals.
Williams will be replaced in Perth by her American countrywoman Meghann Shaughnessy. Shaughnessy is expected to partner with James Blake.
The 21st Hyundai Hopman Cup will take place at the Burswood Dome from January 3-9, 2009.
The competition features a round robin format, consisting of two groups of four teams where all teams play each other once with the winners of each group progressing to the championship round.
It’s a bit strange. I checked my article about Serena’s withdrawal from Doha, and it says she pulled out with stomach injury. Was I not correct in my article, or is something else happening?
No, Marija, I don’t think you were wrong. I just checked OTB’s archives as well, and I wrote that a stomach muscle injury was the reason behind her Doha pull-out too.
The hamstring is pretty far away from the stomach, so perhaps Serena left Doha with more than one injury.
Yes, it’s awkward, now everyone is reporting that she injured her hamstring in Doha, while back then everyone said it was an abdominal injury. Hm, it looks like the common case of “I don’t want to play a tournament, I’ll just make up some excuse” or maybe the tournament organizers had to make an excuse.
But it seems so early to withdraw from the Hopman Cup. It doesn’t start for another few more weeks. Strange, to me.